Identified! MO - Cape Girardeau, E of Oak Ridge, WhtMale 20-40, UP15033, Sz 8 or 9 leather loafers, Apr'81 - Everette Guy Travis

[YaYa_521]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

274UMMO

Decedent's clothing.

274UMMO - Unidentified Male​

Date of Discovery: April 6, 1981
Location of Discovery: Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
Estimated Date of Death: 1980
State of Remains: Skeletal
Cause of Death: Gunshot

Physical Description​

Estimated Age: 20-40 years old
Race: White
Sex: Male
Height: 5'9" to 5'11"
Weight: 175 lbs.
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown.

Identifiers​

Dentals: Available.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Unknown.

Clothing & Personal Items​

Clothing: Green pants, a khaki-colored shirt with short sleeves, and black loafers adorned with a metal buckle across the instep.
Jewelry: Unknown.
Additional Personal Items: Unknown.

Circumstances of Discovery​

The victim was discovered on April 6, 1981, in a wooded area just east of Oak Ridge.

His skull was located in a creek on April 14, 1988 by a mushroom hunter.

It appears the decedent died in a shooting-related death, yet authorities are unsure of how long the remains were in the woods.

Investigating Agency(s)​

Agency Name: Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Capt. David James
Agency Phone Number: 573-243-3551
Online Tip Submission: Here
Agency Case Number: C81-0780

Agency Name: UNT Center for Human Identification
Agency Contact Person: Melissa Gregory
Agency Phone Number: 817-304-0893
Agency E-Mail: melissa.gregory(at)unthsc.edu
Agency Case Number: Unknown

NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: 15033

Information Source(s)​

NamUs
The Missourian

Admin Notes​

Added: 7/28/08; Last Updated: 6/9/19

 

[MadMcGoo]

I submitted 4875DMKS - Robert Ronald Tippit as a possible match to this Doe.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Cape Girardeau John Doe (1981) is Identified

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office & Southeast Missouri State University Anthropology Partner with Othram to Identify 1981 Homicide Victim

dnasolves.com

In April 1981, human skeletal remains were discovered by a mushroom hunter just off Interstate 55 near Oak Ridge, Missouri. Analysis at the time suggested that these were the postcranial remains of a male of European descent who stood approximately 5'10” and was between 20 and 40 years of age at the time of his death. His partial cranium was recovered in the same area in 1988. The decedent was wearing a leather belt, green pants, a khaki shirt, and black loafers adorned with a metal buckle. He died from a gunshot wound from a small caliber firearm. Initial attempts at extracting DNA and developing an STR profile were unsuccessful, and later attempts were only able to develop a minimal STR profile. A mitochondrial DNA profile was developed and entered into CODIS. The case was entered into NamUs as UP15033. With few leads to go on, the case eventually went cold.

Four decades later, in August 2020, Dr. Jennifer Bengtson and her Anthropology students at Southeast Missouri State University started working with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office to revisit the case. Under Dr. Bengtson’s supervision, students completed a full inventory and re-analysis of the remains. They also submitted bone and tooth samples for isotopic study; these results provided some geographic clues, helped to narrow down a likely year of birth, and helped to refine the age-at-death estimate. Given their previous success working with Othram to obtain usable DNA from difficult samples, Dr. Bengtson and her students used non-destructive analyses and published literature to select new bone samples for another attempt at DNA extraction. Othram scientists were able to successfully extract DNA and develop a SNP profile suitable for genealogical research. Remarkably, a sibling level match was identified immediately upon upload to genealogical databases, and leads returned to the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office allowed their investigators to quickly deduce that the remains likely belonged to Everette Guy Travis of Blytheville, Arkansas. Othram KinSNP® rapid familial testing further confirmed this identity by matching the profile generated from the remains to one developed from a buccal swab from the decedent’s brother.

Investigators from the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office learned that Mr. Travis was a 26-year-old Air Force veteran from Texas who had relocated to Arkansas. Known to be a good Samaritan, Mr. Travis picked up a hitchhiker named Kenneth Derring in Blytheville in June of 1977. Witnesses stated that they saw Derring speaking to Mr. Travis and getting into his vehicle. Mr. Travis was not seen or heard from again. Derring later tried to sell Mr. Travis’ vehicle in Sikeston, Missouri. The person to whom he tried to sell the vehicle noted Derring’s suspicious behavior and alerted authorities. Investigators found that Derring was also in possession of some of Mr. Travis’ personal effects and was armed with a .32 caliber firearm. Various witnesses stated that Derring confessed to them that he shot and killed Mr. Travis, but he gave differing accounts as to what he did with the remains. He was convicted of murdering Mr. Travis despite the fact that his remains were not recovered at the time of the trial and were not identified until now. Derring died in prison in 2012.
Via @othram

 

[MadMcGoo]

Sad story.

Rest peacefully now Everette.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

From Texas A&M U

From Lee High School, 1966

 

[MadMcGoo]

Apr 17, 1980, page 4 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from St. Louis Post-Dispatch dated Apr 17, 1980, page 4.

www.newspapers.com

Wow. It’s interesting after the fact to know that a lot of the clues were there. He wasn’t found far from where the killer tried to sell his vehicle. At least Derring was convicted of the murder and served time.

 

[YaYa_521]

Rest in peace, Everett.

 

[othram]

Seems like you folks beat us to the posting this! Glad this young man's name has been restored.

Cape Girardeau John Doe (1981) is Identified

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office & Southeast Missouri State University Anthropology Partner with Othram to Identify 1981 Homicide Victim

dnasolves.com

 

[RaspberryMama]

I wonder how many members of his family are left. Any chance his parents are still alive? Out of curiosity, in cold cases like this, are the remains returned to the family to be laid to rest? Maybe a silly question, but I've never heard for sure.

RIP Everette. Such a nice looking young man.

 

[iamshadow21]

Cape Girardeau John Doe (1981) is Identified

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office & Southeast Missouri State University Anthropology Partner with Othram to Identify 1981 Homicide Victim

dnasolves.com

In April 1981, human skeletal remains were discovered by a mushroom hunter just off Interstate 55 near Oak Ridge, Missouri. Analysis at the time suggested that these were the postcranial remains of a male of European descent who stood approximately 5'10” and was between 20 and 40 years of age at the time of his death. His partial cranium was recovered in the same area in 1988. The decedent was wearing a leather belt, green pants, a khaki shirt, and black loafers adorned with a metal buckle. He died from a gunshot wound from a small caliber firearm. Initial attempts at extracting DNA and developing an STR profile were unsuccessful, and later attempts were only able to develop a minimal STR profile. A mitochondrial DNA profile was developed and entered into CODIS. The case was entered into NamUs as UP15033. With few leads to go on, the case eventually went cold.

Four decades later, in August 2020, Dr. Jennifer Bengtson and her Anthropology students at Southeast Missouri State University started working with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office to revisit the case. Under Dr. Bengtson’s supervision, students completed a full inventory and re-analysis of the remains. They also submitted bone and tooth samples for isotopic study; these results provided some geographic clues, helped to narrow down a likely year of birth, and helped to refine the age-at-death estimate. Given their previous success working with Othram to obtain usable DNA from difficult samples, Dr. Bengtson and her students used non-destructive analyses and published literature to select new bone samples for another attempt at DNA extraction. Othram scientists were able to successfully extract DNA and develop a SNP profile suitable for genealogical research. Remarkably, a sibling level match was identified immediately upon upload to genealogical databases, and leads returned to the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office allowed their investigators to quickly deduce that the remains likely belonged to Everette Guy Travis of Blytheville, Arkansas. Othram KinSNP® rapid familial testing further confirmed this identity by matching the profile generated from the remains to one developed from a buccal swab from the decedent’s brother.

Investigators from the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office learned that Mr. Travis was a 26-year-old Air Force veteran from Texas who had relocated to Arkansas. Known to be a good Samaritan, Mr. Travis picked up a hitchhiker named Kenneth Derring in Blytheville in June of 1977. Witnesses stated that they saw Derring speaking to Mr. Travis and getting into his vehicle. Mr. Travis was not seen or heard from again. Derring later tried to sell Mr. Travis’ vehicle in Sikeston, Missouri. The person to whom he tried to sell the vehicle noted Derring’s suspicious behavior and alerted authorities. Investigators found that Derring was also in possession of some of Mr. Travis’ personal effects and was armed with a .32 caliber firearm. Various witnesses stated that Derring confessed to them that he shot and killed Mr. Travis, but he gave differing accounts as to what he did with the remains. He was convicted of murdering Mr. Travis despite the fact that his remains were not recovered at the time of the trial and were not identified until now. Derring died in prison in 2012.
Via @othram

So, unlike a lot of cases, in this instance, finding him was the last piece of the puzzle, the last question unanswered. I hope some of his family and the LEs who worked this in previous decades are still around to learn this, to get closure.

Sleep well, Everette.

 

[wary]

Apr 17, 1980, page 4 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from St. Louis Post-Dispatch dated Apr 17, 1980, page 4.

www.newspapers.com

View attachment 375754

Wow. It’s interesting after the fact to know that a lot of the clues were there. He wasn’t found far from where the killer tried to sell his vehicle. At least Derring was convicted of the murder and served time.

It would have been maddening if we had learned that a juror had bought into the ‘no body no crime’ joke, and the murderer had been acquitted.

 

[iamshadow21]

It would have been maddening if we had learned that a juror had bought into the ‘no body no crime’ joke, and the murderer had been acquitted.

I was just talking to my partner about this, how no-body cases rarely see a courtroom now, but they were even rarer then, and they not only worked out who did it, they got the conviction and made it stick. The only thing the never got was Everette's body, and, well, now he's going home. When so many of the cases on here don't get that kind of resolution, it's kind of awe-inspiring and humbling to see it all come together, especially after so long. Exceptional.

Here's to Everette and those who brought him home (family, sleuths, LEs, and @othram ), and here's to bringing the next one home, and the one after that, and the next, and so on. Until there are no more Does. Until we never get another potter's field plot, or another headstone that reads 'unknown'.

 

[Melt71]

I wonder how many members of his family are left. Any chance his parents are still alive? Out of curiosity, in cold cases like this, are the remains returned to the family to be laid to rest? Maybe a silly question, but I've never heard for sure.

RIP Everette. Such a nice looking young man.

The Othram press release says they identified a sibling-level match immediately when they uploaded his DNA and that it was confirmed with a one-to-one test. So he has at least one sibling alive.

 

[JTravis]

Seems like you folks beat us to the posting this! Glad this young man's name has been restored.

Cape Girardeau John Doe (1981) is Identified

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office & Southeast Missouri State University Anthropology Partner with Othram to Identify 1981 Homicide Victim

dnasolves.com

Othram,
I am GuyTravis’ brother James. Thank you so much for the work you did in identifying my brother’s remains. It really has meant a lot to us to get him back and have his remains interred under the marker we put up many years ago next to our parents. Congratulations and thank you! I was 23 years old when he died, and I am 69 today. Glad I submitted my DNA to GEDmatch!

 

[Lwieckowicz]

Othram,
I am GuyTravis’ brother James. Thank you so much for the work you did in identifying my brother’s remains. It really has meant a lot to us to get him back and have his remains interred under the marker we put up many years ago next to our parents. Congratulations and thank you! I was 23 years old when he died, and I am 69 today. Glad I submitted my DNA to GEDmatch!

Wow amazing thank you for sharing! He has his name back, Everette Guy Travis Rest In Peace

 

[JTravis]

The Othram press release says they identified a sibling-level match immediately when they uploaded his DNA and that it was confirmed with a one-to-one test. So he has at least one sibling alive.

I am Guy’s brother James. I was 23 when he went missing and am 69 today. Both of our parents died before his remains were identified. We interred his remains next to them this past weekend under the marker we had placed many years ago. It was a joyous occasion indeed! The CBS station in Cape Girardeau Missouri is airing multiple segments on the story this week. The will be available on their website for a month or two at KFVS12.com

 

[othram]

Othram,
I am GuyTravis’ brother James. Thank you so much for the work you did in identifying my brother’s remains. It really has meant a lot to us to get him back and have his remains interred under the marker we put up many years ago next to our parents. Congratulations and thank you! I was 23 years old when he died, and I am 69 today. Glad I submitted my DNA to GEDmatch!

Truly an honor to assist and if we can provide anymore information or you want to talk, you can reach us at solve@othram.com. We are so terribly sorry for your loss.

 

[JTravis]

The Othram press release says they identified a sibling-level match immediately when they uploaded his DNA and that it was confirmed with a one-to-one test. So he has at least one sibling alive.

I am Guy’s brother James. I was 23 when he went missing and am 69 today. Both of our parents died before his remains were identified. We interred his remains next to them this past weekend under the marker we had placed many years ago. It was a joyous occasion indeed! The CBS station in Cape Girardeau Missouri is airing multiple segments on the story this week. The will be available on their website for a month or two at KFVS12.com

I wonder how many members of his family are left. Any chance his parents are still alive? Out of curiosity, in cold cases like this, are the remains returned to the family to be laid to rest? Maybe a silly question, but I've never heard for sure.

RIP Everette. Such a nice looking young man.

Truly an honor to assist and if we can provide anymore information or you want to talk, you can reach us at solve@othram.com. We are so terribly sorry for your loss.

Thank you. Our time for being sorry ended a long time ago. We are overjoyed to have him back and where he belongs! At a burial people are usually saying goodbye. We were saying "Welcome Home!"

Thanks again for your work on my brothers case. I'm certainly glad I uploaded my DNA to GEDmatch now!

JT

 

[JTravis]

So, unlike a lot of cases, in this instance, finding him was the last piece of the puzzle, the last question unanswered. I hope some of his family and the LEs who worked this in previous decades are still around to learn this, to get closure.

Sleep well, Everette.

Hi shadow. Yes, there are still family members alive who never forgot him although we had given up hope of finding him. I am his brother and last Saturday our sister and I along with our children interred his ashes next to our parents. We had put a marker up for him many years ago. It no longer stands over an empty grave. Thank you Othram, thank you Cape Girardeau Sheriff's office, and thank you Southeast Missouri State University!

JT

 

[JTravis]

I wonder how many members of his family are left. Any chance his parents are still alive? Out of curiosity, in cold cases like this, are the remains returned to the family to be laid to rest? Maybe a silly question, but I've never heard for sure.

RIP Everette. Such a nice looking young man.

Hi,
I am Guy's brother and we are thrilled to have him back with us. I was 23 years old when he died, and I am 69 now. We also have a half sister who is still alive, her husband, and one of her children who is old enough to remember him. I personally traveled to Cape Girardeau, MO. to retrieve his remains for burial next to our deceased parents. Our mother died almost 20 years ago, and our father died in 2018—too soon to have received this good news. Thank you Othram, Cape Girardeau Co. Sheriff's office, and Southeast Missouri State University!

JT